(for 21 November 2003)

Today I saw a llife ended. Today I 'saw' lives changed.

Right in the middle of the afternoon, something happened. I don't know who caused it , I don't know what happened but somebody paid for it.

The motorcyclist ended up on his front with his arms up over his head and his legs sprawled apart. It almost looked like he was fast asleep. But there were rivers of burgundy coloured blood running from where his head laid, covered under newspapers, as were his legs. I guess the papers were there to shield curious passerbys from the horrors of protruding bones and smashed faces. Ah the sensibilities of the living.

His bike lay on its side, near him, almost like a faithful dog would. I don't know what caused the accident. I don't know if he 'deserved' it....but I do know that he will never go home again. He will never see his family again nor experience the ups and downs of life again.

Just like that. So easily. People go past, I go past. They look, I look. Does anybody care? Will anybody change? Someone is never going to see their husband/father/son/brother/grandfather/friend again but does it change life for us? The impartial observer.

IT SHOULD! It really should because it should make us learn to not take life for granted. To not take our bodies for invincible. To not believe that 'IT' would never, could never happen to us. I don't want for this to happen to me, I don't want for this to happen to my family. I don't want for it to happen to anybody!

I saw and I made a quick prayer, for me and for my loved ones.

Please, the next time you step out your door and into your car or onto your bike, please spare a thought for the person you could kill. The lives you could change. Nobody deserves to die annonymously on the road, spread out for all to see. Respect your fellow motorist and if this thought could go all around the world, nobody need die like this every again.